Air Force Drone Crashes In Florida Highway

Traffic on Florida's highways can be a pain in the ass. What with all the bad drivers, the poor weather, the congested lanes and things falling from the sky and exploding on the road.

A drone that flew out of Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City crashed into US 98 on Thursday morning.

The crash caused an explosion and a plume of thick black smoke that could be seen for miles.

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Officials immediately closed off the highway and could remain closed for at least 24 hours.

Fortunately, no one was injured.

According to the base, the drone -- a QF-4 model for you drone enthusiasts -- has a limited, 24 hour, battery life and will be inactive after the battery is depleted.

At first, reports began to trickle in to local officials and law enforcement that a plane had crashed, but the base soon confirmed it was one of their unmanned drones that took a nose dive into the Florida highway.

As recently as a few weeks ago there was a report of another QF-4 exploding over the Gulf of Mexico after it self-destructed due to some issues during flight.

So, drones blowing up willy-nilly and falling from the sky is something we should probably get used to.

Ok, not really. But still.

Based on our crack research (i.e. Google), the QF-4 as a supersonic,full-scale target drone which comes in at 63 feet in length, and weighs 30,328 pounds. It has a wingspan of about 40 feet and costs the Air Force about $2.6 million. Cheap!

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